Bloom (ARBAON #2)

Chapter Twelve

WC: 3.8k

Chapter Song: Sleeping in Waking by Rina Sawayama

Writer Note: I meant to post yesterday but I fell asleep, oops. Sorry for the delay, I hope you guys are safe and healthy.

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"Okay, Buddy. Show us that magic trick you showed us before— the barrier?" The monster man was acting like he wasn't a monster again.

"I don't know what a barrier is." I said kinda quiet, colouring in my colouring book.

The monster man made an annoyed sound, talking to some new lady who had come into the room. They kept calling her a 'magic special -est' or something. But after what the nice doctor with the cool earrings had told me, I didn't wanna show them my magic.

"I'm telling you, he was doing it before, at their apartment. It was big and blue, covering the both of them. Maybe he's pretending—or I don't know."

"Excuse me—" I said in a polite kinda way, like the way Momma told me to when I was talking to grown ups, "I need a sharpener."

The monster man bent down. "I don't know why you're pretending. Just show this nice lady what you can do, it's important!"

I looked at the lady. She was kind of small and round and old like Mrs.Claus. She bent down, too.

"If you don't show us what you're capable of, there will be consequences." Her voice was scary. It sounded like an icicle and made me feel cold inside. My heart started to thump thump and I swallowed, still trying to colour even though I missed a couple spots. I pressed my pencil crayon a little hard and the tip broke.

I looked over at the bed and Momma was still asleep. I was all by myself and I really wished the nice earring man could come back and be with me.

I turned to the monster man. He was giving the mean lady a funny look before looking back at me.

"Where's the nice doctor? He has black hair, and brown eyes, and earrings? I don't like her. Make her go away." I said.

"You're old enough to know not to ignore people who are speaking directly to you. If you have magic, you have to show us. If you don't tell us, I can make sure you won't see your mother for a long time."

My eyes got so big felt like my eyeballs would fall out. "You can't do that!"

"What the fuck, Sanderson?" The monster man got between me and the mean lady. "You can't threaten a kid like that!"

The mean lady made an angry face. "Your people are the ones who called me! I'm busy trying to research magic. Every wasted minute is a minute I can't afford to lose. Some police officer says there's a child exhibiting unheard of magical ability, you bet I'm going to investigate. So, to reiterate, I don't have time to develop rapport with the child, I just need answers. Is he or is he not capable?" She looked quickly at her watch, and she made a face like she was late for something. "I don't have time for false alarms."

Then she looked at me and I wished really hard that Momma was awake or the earring man could come back. I looked down at my jammies, and swallowed really hard. I wanted to leave, but I couldn't leave Momma alone.